Overheating at idle, blowing out coolant.
 

Ok, my car has no heat problems when I fill the system with water, I can drive whatever, stop and idle, no porblems. After a week or so, most of my coolant get sforced into the overflow tank and then out through the lid as steam. After this starts, iti overheats when I stop in traffic. If I do not add water soon, it starts to overheat when driving too. SO I just add water ever fridasy, like 2-3 waterbottles worth.
Chris had this happen to another guy who had the same rad, so it might be the problem, but I am stumped. Oh yea, and the rad is filled with orange ----, proibably cooked coolant.
One oddity I noticed, probably unrelated, was that when it starts to overheat, I can start to roll down the windows, and the ionterior lights get a little bit dim and it goes back to regular temp. Stop the window motor and it heats again. Just random electric gremlin probably.
So what is this ----? ^-^

Re: Overheating at idle, blowing out coolant.
 

Your not just using water are you?

Any loss of coolant in the system will increase your temperature because it will no longer have as much area to displace heat into. Kinda like if you have a 40Gal drum of water over a fire, itll take forever to boil, but if you take out 35Gal of that water, itll boil in minutes, or in your case, overheat your motor and cause a fuckload of damage

Re: Overheating at idle, blowing out coolant.
 

I am using just water now, Cant afford to buy a gallon of coolant a week. NEed to figure this problem out, thenI can start using a good mix again.

Re: Overheating at idle, blowing out coolant.
 

if theres no actual leak thats making you use coolant, and your fan is running normally, then i would wager that you've got a headgasket or thermostat issue.

Re: Overheating at idle, blowing out coolant.
 

What happesn if I drive without a thermo? I replaced it, but it might be fucked. I am not losing coolant besides it coming out the reservoir slowly. HG is fine, as are all relays, fan etc. I'll try a 3rd rad cap too, but its almost 100% not the prob.

Re: Overheating at idle, blowing out coolant.
 

how are you so certain the hg is fine...

Re: Overheating at idle, blowing out coolant.
 

HG 1
you 0

Re: Overheating at idle, blowing out coolant.
 

First of all, another guy who has the same radiator from Chris's shop has the same exact issue, afaik he has no solution yet either.
I test compression and it was exactly the same as prior to this issue. Nothing changed except this radiator, and putting a silly turbo kitty on.
HG was the first thing I looked for....The damn thing does this at idle too if I empty out the resrvoir, then let it warm up till the fan turns on, I can hear the water pour into the overflow.

Re: Overheating at idle, blowing out coolant.
 

Actually straight water acts as a better coolant than water/glycol (anti-freeze) mix. Better heat transfer with straight up distilled water. What pressure rad cap are you running? It might be too low of a pressure and blowing the excess off too soon.

Re: Overheating at idle, blowing out coolant.
 

I'll try another one, it's whatever autozone calls a stock civic cap. What should I look for?